The SRT is placed within HPS’s Major Drugs and Gangs division, meaning that intelligence is easily shared between the team focusing on shootings and those investigating gang activity, drug cases, and homicides. Photo Credit: Hamilton Police Service.
Hamilton Police Service (HPS) recently announced that they are making their Shooting Response Team (SRT) permanent.
The SRT was operating as a one-year pilot program and was being tested as a way to centralize non-lethal shooting investigations.
Previously, shooting investigations were simply handled by HPS divisional detectives across each of Hamilton’s three police divisions.
Deputy Police Chief Ryan Diodati says that a specialized team tackling shootings allows for much more “focused work” to take place.
“We’ve seen incredible success from the focused work of our SRT. They have been able to make connections between several shootings, as well as take dangerous firearms and offenders off our streets, making our community safer for everyone,” he commented.
The team handles shooting investigations that are not homicides, thus tackling “incidents of reckless gunfire that result in serious injuries or endanger individuals and properties,” reads an HPS press release.
Diodati adds: “Shootings, regardless of whether they result in a victim, significantly compromise our community’s feeling of safety. The SRT ensures dedicated investigative resources are allocated to address shootings and apprehend those responsible.”
HPS notes that there has been an increase of shooting incidents within the city, which specifically prompted the need for a more concentrated investigative team.
There were 51 shootings in the city in 2020, 39 in 2021, 45 in 2022, and 35 in 2023.
So far in 2024 there have already been nine shootings, five of which just took place within the past couple weeks.
Most notably, on Wednesday, March 6, 2024, around 1 PM a 19-year-old Hamilton man was shot and killed in a busy downtown area outside of Jackson Square. There have been no known arrests in that incident.
The weekend before that were two shooting incidents: one on Saturday, March 2 and Sunday, March 3.
On the Saturday a male reportedly fired a shot into the air during an altercation outside of Faces Cafe and Bar at Main Street East and Rosslyn Avenue at 1:30 PM in the afternoon.
And on the Sunday at Centre Road and Concession Road 6 East in Flamborough, two males who were reportedly selling marijuana pens were surrounded and a shot was fired.
Before that were back-to-back weekend shootings on Saturday, Feb. 24 and Sunday, Feb. 25.
On the Saturday a man in his 20s was shot outside of the California Dream Lounge on King Street East near the Walnut Street intersection.
The day after, a man was shot at Club 33 near the Main Street East and Catharine Street intersection.
In 2023, 21 of the city’s 35 shootings were investigated by the SRT, which led to the arrest of 10 individuals and a total of 98 charges.
The SRT is placed within HPS’s Major Drugs and Gangs division, meaning that intelligence is easily shared between the team focusing on shootings and those investigating gang activity, drug cases, and homicides.
Based in Hamilton, he reaches hundreds of thousands of people monthly on Facebook, Instagram, TikTok, and Twitter. He has been published in The Hamilton Spectator, Stoney Creek News, and Bay Observer. He has also been a segment host with Cable 14 Hamilton. In 2017, he received the Chancellor Full Tuition Scholarship from the University of Ottawa (BA, 2022). He has also received the Governor General’s Academic Medal. He formerly worked in a non-partisan role on Parliament Hill in Ottawa.
